Etymograph

English

sock

Sock comes from Old English socc ‘sock, light shoe, slipper’, and goes back to Ancient Greek συγχίς.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσυγχίς1súkkhosas σύκχος‘a kind of shoe’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsoccus1‘a light shoe or slipper, buskin’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150socc1‘sock, light shoe, slipper’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500socke1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1985sock1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sock, which cites Beekes
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1985, National Transportation Safety Board, 1.1 History of the Flight: “At 1331:58, UA Flight 757 reported that it was…”.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσυγχίςWiktionary, English sock, which cites Beekessúkkhosas σύκχος‘a kind of shoe’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsoccusWiktionary, English sock, which cites Beekes‘a light shoe or slipper, buskin’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150soccWiktionary, English sock, which cites Beekes‘sock, light shoe, slipper’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sockeWiktionary, English sock, which cites Beekes
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1985sockWiktionary, English sock, which cites Beekes. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1985, National Transportation Safety Board, 1.1 History of the Flight: “At 1331:58, UA Flight 757 reported that it was…”

The story

Beekes compares Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬑𐬀 (haxa, “sole of the foot”).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Ancient Greek συγχίς

Another origin of sock

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sewH-‘to give birth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*súH-s‘pig’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*sukkos‘pig (snout)’literally ‘pig's snout’reconstructed
  4. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*soccus‘soccus, a kind of slipper particularly worn by comedic actors’reconstructed
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentsoc‘plowshare’
  6. Englishtodaysock

Today it means

noun A knitted or woven covering for the foot.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sock”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek συγχίς / sock

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